Thirty years ago today

Thirty years ago I completed a "total consecration to Mary" in the tradition of St. Maximilian Kolbe.

I still have the certificate from the consecration.  Can't believe it's been thirty years!

Who would have thought that thirty years later I'd be writing a blog post on a website I started based on a couple books I wrote about the Seven Sorrows of Mary?

And since it's the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, let me share WHY we should honor Mary.

Let me start by saying that, in keeping the Ten Commandments, I *honor* my birth mother.  But I do so, not just because she gave me life, but for several reasons.  Here are seven reasons:

• she loved me before I was born
• she cooperated with God to bring me into the world
• she provided for me
• she taught me about the world because she wanted to prepare me for difficult times
• she taught me about Jesus
• she sacrificed for me
• she is a good person and a great role model

(Thank you, Mom. You’re the best!)

I don’t worship my Mom. I don’t credit her with creating me. I’m not confused about the fact that she is not God. 

Similarly, by calling Mary the Mother of God (just like St. Elizabeth did in Lk. 1:43), I don’t credit her with creating Jesus. I’m not confused about the fact that she is not God. 

We don’t worship Mary. But we love her as a child loves his Mother.

And, for as much as I love, appreciate, and respect my Mom, Mary is even greater than my Mom.

So let’s review some ways that Mary deserves our love, appreciation, and respect:

• Mary loved us before we were born.
• Mary cooperated with God to bring Christ into the world to save us. 
• Mary provides for us by interceding with God on our behalf. (yes, she already prays for you!)
• Mary has taught us about the world because she wanted to prepare us for difficult times. For example, she came into the world to warn about calamities (read my book, "Something You Can Count On", and the sections about Fatima and Rwanda).
• Mary teaches us about Jesus, first directly by telling St. Luke about the birth and life of Jesus before his public ministry, but also through devotion to the Seven Sorrows, she teaches us even more about Jesus.
• Mary has sacrificed for us. (She has done this in many ways, but undeniably by first saying yes to carrying and birthing Jesus, but then also by protecting His life in the Flight into Egypt. If not for the sacrifice of Mary and Joseph, Jesus could have died as a child.)
• Mary is a good person and a great role model. There is no other creature who is a better role model for us.

And God decided to create Mary, in a way very similar to how He created Eve: without original sin!

That's what the Immaculate Conception is all about. God created Mary without any sin, so that Jesus could become a worthy sacrifice for us, in atonement for our sins against God.

Beyond WHO Mary is, especially in the list above, we honor her on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception because of the honor God gave to her in the privilege of being conceived without original sin.

Now, have you done a total consecration to Mary yet? If not, why not?